Big Cable Is Bleeding: 500K+ Subscribers Lost In Q3

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

Original Article Link

I’m sure everyone is crying for these poor, poor companies, too.  Let’s face it, they offer the best customer service, the lowest prices, the greatest picture, and every channel that consumers want.  Oh wait, no, that was a dream I had last night.  Nevermind.

[Meester.Rip]

I dropped to the most basic cable package a few months ago and Comcast charged me 19.95 to make that drop. Talk about BS. The only thing I miss is when there is a game on ESPN I need to watch and I don’t get it in HD. But it isn’t worth the $50+ a month to have the HD service to see it. For the people that pay 100 – 160 or more  a month on TV, I don’t see how they do it without having a serious attack of buyer’s remorse everytime they get the bill.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

[quote=”Meester.Rip”] For the people that pay 100 – 160 or more  a month on TV, I don’t see how they do it without having a serious attack of buyer’s remorse everytime they get the bill.
[/quote]

Hey now, I resemble that remark!  😉  I admit it hurts each month, but I also get to watch quite a few things I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.  Between Syfy, DIY, Spike, HBO, and Starz, we’d be missing quite a few shows.  Could we watch them later using Netflix or something?  Sure, if I wanted to subscribe to their service instead.  It’s not like we could completely get rid of satellite and go Netflix and OTA only.  Besides, at that point, you start to negate the savings and you have to weigh the pros and cons.

[Meester.Rip]

[quote=”Skirge01″]
[quote=”Meester.Rip”] For the people that pay 100 – 160 or more  a month on TV, I don’t see how they do it without having a serious attack of buyer’s remorse everytime they get the bill.
[/quote]

Hey now, I resemble that remark!  😉  I admit it hurts each month, but I also get to watch quite a few things I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.  Between Syfy, DIY, Spike, HBO, and Starz, we’d be missing quite a few shows.  Could we watch them later using Netflix or something?  Sure, if I wanted to subscribe to their service instead.  It’s not like we could completely get rid of satellite and go Netflix and OTA only.  Besides, at that point, you start to negate the savings and you have to weigh the pros and cons.
[/quote]

Well I know it is a dark area, ok illegal I guess, but I get all my Boardwalk, Walking Dead, Weeds and Dexter the next day in HD from eztv. I’d pay for HBO if that is all I had to pay for. They say is would be 17 a month but then I’d have to subscribe to a higher priced Digital package also so 17 becomes 50. I look at it this way. If the restroom doesn’t have a trash can by the door and you start throwing your towels into the corner then eventually a trash can appears, I hope that the pay services learn that we won’t take it anymore and start cutting their prices or redisgning their packages.

It is already working to an extent, we have Google TV, HULU and dozen other services popping up every week. The big providers will either crack under pressure or fail. People just need to keep casting their vote with cancellations of service.

[robinhoody]

I made the switch to OTA and netflix 4 months ago now, and I dont miss a thing.. Ok I lied I miss ESPN 😛  If TW didnt suck ass and would allow me to access ESPN 3 with my xbox I would be super happy.  But I doubt that will happen.  I believe those numbers are spot on, there have been 3 people here at work that have cut the cable and moved to OTA too, and they are super happy with it.  I think the consumer is getting smarter, when they see these internet ready STB’s that can stream content for cheap when compared to cable then people are going to stop paying for cable.  The quality of content out there keeps improving, revision 3 is a prime example. 

[DavidStein]

I am somewhat confused that HBO doesn’t sell streaming subscriptions online. They must have some dcontract with cable/sat companies that prevents it because otherwise it seems like a no-brainer. what does HBO care if I am subscribed to comcast digital cable or not so long as they are getting their monthly subscription fees?

[robinhoody]

[quote=”DavidStein”]
I am somewhat confused that HBO doesn’t sell streaming subscriptions online. They must have some dcontract with cable/sat companies that prevents it because otherwise it seems like a no-brainer. what does HBO care if I am subscribed to comcast digital cable or not so long as they are getting their monthly subscription fees?
[/quote]

Yea I would love to HBO streaming online, same with ESPN 3 I wonder why they dont have a 5-10$ a month subscription service

[Mike Garcen]

I can’t believe in this day and age, with the technology the way it is, that we don’t have A-La-Carte cable. Seriously, it’s insulting. There’s absolutely no other industry that works this way. Oh, you want X service, that’s fine, but that only comes with Y, Z, M services in a package as well for more money.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

Monopolies tend to work that way.  Phone companies, TV, and Microsoft.  😉

[Aaron Ledger]

[quote=”shadymg”]
I can’t believe in this day and age, with the technology the way it is, that we don’t have A-La-Carte cable. Seriously, it’s insulting. There’s absolutely no other industry that works this way. Oh, you want X service, that’s fine, but that only comes with Y, Z, M services in a package as well for more money.
[/quote]

I think the reason why though is that pricing is much more attractive to consumers when bundling. It’s also not necessarily the MSOs fault either as content producers also like to bundle their offerings to the MSOs so they can hit their different target demographics. The business is rather complex compared to buying many other goods and services.

[Mike Garcen]

i’m not saying you can’t have the bundles still. I mean, if McDonald’s can figure it out with their Value Meals, i think big MSOs can handle it–Burger + Fry + Coke = $6 if each individual, or if you buy them altogether the value meal is $4

Uhm, you’re telling me if Cable offered a “sports value package” that had Basic Cable+ESPNs, TNT, TBS, Versus, Spike for $25 that you wouldn’t be interested? Well, maybe if you needed HGTV or AMC, then that “Value Cable” bundle at $40 would be worth it…etc.

I cut my cable a while back, and the only thing that hurts is i miss coming home (i can wait for any sitcom/show/series), just turning on ESPN and watching sportscenter all night. But am i going to spend $60 for their lowest package to do so? nope 🙂

[Aaron Ledger]

I don’t think the equation is really as simple as the MSOs just being able to offer content straight-up outside of bundles. The networks give different pricing based on how it is bundled to the MSOs. The networks also force universal carriage in their content deals so it would be impossible for the MSO to unbundle. Of course, the MSOs could try to negotiate away universal carriage and I’m sure the networks would oblige at the right price.

[Mike Garcen]

yeah, i agree swoon. im sure HBO wants them to bundle HBO, HBO2, HBO3, HBO4, etc. I’m not saying the blame is on JUST MSO’s….but c’mon. With their size, I think they could start fixing things if they cared to.

Even with 500,000 less subscribers, i betcha they’re still turning a profit

[Andrew Van Til]

[quote=”Meester.Rip”]
I dropped to the most basic cable package a few months ago and Comcast charged me 19.95 to make that drop. Talk about BS. The only thing I miss is when there is a game on ESPN I need to watch and I don’t get it in HD. But it isn’t worth the $50+ a month to have the HD service to see it. For the people that pay 100 – 160 or more  a month on TV, I don’t see how they do it without having a serious attack of buyer’s remorse everytime they get the bill.
[/quote]

I don’t pay that much just for TV, but the total bill to Comcast is in that region.  For me it’s about convenience.  I can record what I want, store it and watch it whenever and however many times I want before cleaning it up.

[captain_video]

I know everyone gripes about their cable bills but I can’t really fault the providers for raising prices.  People keep demanding more and more content so the providers try and oblige.  Content costs money and their providers keep raising their prices.  Since we all know all costs are passed along to the consumer we get stuck paying the bill.  Cablecos also have to keep updating their infrastructure to keep up with the demand for more bandwidth so on and on it goes. 

Cable rate hikes are in the same category as death and taxes.  They’re all something you can count on.  That being said, I’m on the verge of dropping HBO.  Verizon charges me about $23 per month for just HBO, even though I get every HBO channel in existence.  With NetFlix I don’t need all the movies.  I only watch HBO for their regular series, which amounts to only a few shows per week.

I’d love to see providers offer their services a la carte instead of bundled in packages with a hundred channels I’ll never watch.  Aside from my locals, I only watch a handful of channels on cable.  My wife likes other channels so the total count is a bit higher between the two of us.

I’ve been able to reduce my monthly costs a bit after getting my Ceton InfiniTV 4.  I no longer pay monthly equipment rental fees except for a few CableCARDs.  It does tick me off that in order to get FxHD I have to get the HD Xtreme package or whatever they’re calling it now for an additional monthly fee.

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